The 12th Andover (West) Scout Group
'The best'
Welcome to the 12th Andover (West) Scout Group website
COVID-19 Latest News: We are currently unable to hold face-to-face meetings and continue to hold online meetings via Zoom on the usual days and at the usual times. The end of summer term is July 23rd and we will ensure that all parents/guardians are kept informed as to the situation for the new school year in September. If you need further information then please contact your section leader.
Scroll down or click ‘News & Events’ above for all our latest news ….
We are based in the Andover District in North Hampshire. Our Group meet at the Scout Hut on West Portway in Andover (see contact for more details).
Our group consists of Beaver, Cub & Scout sections and in addition, one of the District Explorer units also meets at our hut as well as a Networks section.
We have a great hut with lots of facilities, a large car park and a wonderfully large outside space that is fully and safely enclosed, allowing us to hold camps and many events within our own grounds.
The aim of the Scout Association is to promote the development of young people and help them achieve their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials as individual, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.
This website is continuously being added to so please browse it regularly to find new information on the 12th Andover (West) Scout Group.
Latest News
Beavers win Chief Scout Awards
The most difficult badge to win in each of our sections is the Chief Scout Award. It takes a lot of hard work and effort over a long period to do all the tasks that are required to eventually achieve the badge and anyone who does this can be very proud of themselves for what they have done. In normal circumstances all badge winners get to attend a ceremony where our District Commissioner, Julian Slade would hand out the awards and each winner would go up on the stage to receive it and get a loud round of applause from everyone present to show the winners how proud we are as a group. Unfortunately, as I am sure you know, circumstances are NOT normal and so the awards were posted to the winners this time. I know that this is not what we would have wanted but it doesn’t lessen the terrific achievement for each of our winners and we are still very proud of you all. The winners in our Beaver section this time were: Benedict Nock, Andrew Witcher, Freya Parnham, Arlo Garland, Billy Wisniewski, Jacob Whincup and Hamish Manson. Very well done to you... read moreBeavers meet Conrad
Last week our Beaver section met with children’s poet Conrad Burdekin on Zoom and together they composed a poem called ‘The 12th Andover West Café ‘ and here it is. Great effort guys, we love it... read more
Hedgehogs and Zoom !
The Beavers invited the Cubs to join their Zoom meeting recently week and were joined by Dave Hudson from ‘Prickles and Paws’ hedgehog rescue centre in Newquay. He gave everyone a tour of the rescue centre which was very impressive. They got to see the incubators containing hoglets and the building where the bigger hedgehogs and the maternity unit were housed. The tour then moved on to the outside space where a fenced off area was home to the hedgehogs before being released back into the wild. As well as hedgehog houses, feeding stations and hedgehog highways, they all got to see the hydrotherapy pool used to assist the hedgehogs in recovering from any injuries they might have. Everyone learnt a lot, including how hedgehog numbers are declining and the importance of making our gardens hedgehog friendly. He encouraged everyone to get involved with this by making hedgehog houses, highways and by creating feeding stations. He encouraged the Beavers and Cubs to send the rescue centre any photos of anything they do to create a great environment for a hedgehog. If you click on this link https://www.pricklesandpaws.org/ you can go directly to the ‘Prickles and Paws’ website. Please do visit, it has all the contact information, along with information on how to attract hedgehogs to your garden. There are also some adorable hedgehog photos. As a charity they are reliant on public support to be able to keep their rescue centre open. If you would like to donate to ‘Prickles and Paws’ you can do so via their website. Please contact one of our Beaver or Cubs leaders for... read more
Care For Care Homes
Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers have continued meeting online throughout lockdown and decided to direct their community work towards helping the hard-hit care sector during this challenging time. The Scouting Association recently launched the campaign “Care For Care Homes”. Care homes have been hit incredibly hard during the pandemic with residents being separated from their loved ones. The goal was for the Scouts to carry out acts of kindness to help to reduce loneliness and improve the well being of people in care homes. Many Scout groups within Andover have taken part including the 1st Andover Beavers, 3rd Andover (West) Beavers, 12th Andover (West) Beavers and 12th Andover (West) Cubs. After establishing links with two care homes the Beavers and Cubs got very busy drawing pictures, writing letters, poems and making games to send to the care homes to cheer the residents up. Initiatives like these are always very uplifting to hear but especially during these difficult times. A delivery has now been made to The Andover Nursing Home and Millway House Nursing Home. GSL Note: What a wonderful idea to do this and to make such a difference to the lives of people in care homes. Really well done to all those 12th Beavers and Cubs who took part and thank you.... read more
Help celebrate VE day on May 8th with the 12th
On Friday May 8th the whole country will be celebrating VE (Victory in Europe) Day and here at the 12th we thought we should have a special celebration at home style party. All the instructions with lots of ideas for what you can do for this are in the attached document so have a read to get some ideas and remember you can add as many of your own ideas as you like too. Don’t forget to send us your pictures and if you are happy for a short film clip of your celebrations to appear on this website too then please follow the instructions on the attached document and send the clips to your leaders. Have fun everyone (and special thanks to Charlie and Kirsty for organising this). VE Street Party at Home... read more